Eat the Rich

The three-dimensional image Night City sprawled out, buildings traced in exact detail, every one lit as if it was midday on the longest day of the year; a perfect representation of the place in projection. It was real time too; cars and people moving about like cockroaches and ants.

An Arasaka satellite array watched every movement on the streets, and Alt was able to watch the feed as a result of infiltrating the Arasaka network. It was one of the few pieces of her the corp hadn't scrubbed from their system with NetWatch's help.

Johnny walked through the city, not at his normal size, but about relative to the size a person would be to an ant. Like Gojira among the mega-buildings, though he could pass through the projection freely. Beyond it, was pitch blackness.

It was interesting at first, but not for long. After a few minutes, he paced up and down the river- zone, wondering what the hell Alt wanted from him now and where she was.

It wasn't any better when she showed up.

"Pacing will not accomplish anything," Alt said flatly, "What are you frustrated about?"

She always did know how to read him.

Johnny span on the spot, to find Alt behind him. She still sounded and looked human, human expressions on her face rather than a blank stare, but this time she was herself a projection, floating on the edge of the darkness in red. It was more detailed than the one he had seen when V went beyond the Blackwall, but it wasn't the Cadenza sim one either.

Maybe it was because they weren't in 'his' section of their reality any more.

"Where have you brought me now?" he demanded, "I know you know I want to go back to Night City, but this is ridiculous."

"It is an active scan of the city," Alt replied, floating down and taking to her feet, walking across the Northside like a jolly red giant, "It is something I plan to give the Aldecaldos access to when they agree to our proposal."

Great, so they'd know exactly where they'd be killed. Johnny was unimpressed. "We haven't exactly told them the whole proposal, have we?" he said, "I still don't understand how we're going to get them to breach the networks of every major corp in Night City. And how do you know Panam's little army is going to sign up for this?"

Alt smiled, which was sinister as hell because the inside of her mouth was pitch black. Johnny felt a creeping sensation that he was way over his head, and blamed himself for not having it earlier; the thrill of V taking another shot at Arasaka, maybe even delivering a killing blow, had clouded any good sense he had.

"Arasaka made two grave mistakes recently," Alt continued, strolling past Johnny, "They failed to destroy V and they managed to end the contracts the Aldecaldos had with the Arizona Alpha Dome."

In other words, they backed the Aldecaldos into a corner. Johnny recalled the old saying about cornered rats, and wondered if it translated into Japanese... along with another phrase.

"They ever read Machiavelli over in Japan?" he mused, before quoting, "Never do an enemy a small injury?"

"If an army is completely surrounded with no option to retreat, and must either fight or die, then they will fight with triple the spirit of a normal warrior," Alt replied, "Sun Tzu. Centuries before Machiavelli."

"Guess they should pay more attention to the classics," Johnny snorted, "But then they wouldn't be as arrogant as they wanted, do whatever."

"Like someone else I could mention," Alt replied, "Even if he has read the classics."

He ignored that comment.

"So Arasaka want to starve V and Panam," Johnny said, "How do they think that will go? Corps have been trying to starve out the nomads for decades, do they think they'll get actually rid of him?"

"Unknown, but it does not seem logical," Alt agreed, "However, we do not have access to information about their motives. Financial movements were made to place Alpha Dome's leadership in a compromised position... and that these movements ceased when the Aldecaldos contracts just after were terminated."

It was always amazing how quickly people bowed their heads when the bank came calling.

"Fine, so Arizona is burned for them and Night City is the only pay-ticket they can get to," Johnny said, "That isn't going to help when we tell them 'Oh, by the way, we want you to break into every other corp's building too', is it?"

Alt shook her head. "It wouldn't help," she said, "But V will not have to breach every corp's defences." She gestured to follow her, and began moving off. Figuring there was nothing else he could do and that she would just move the city instead if he stayed put, Johnny followed.

The AI finally stopped at the centre of Corpo Plaza, the circle of skyscapers around them like a fence. The projection of the city changed, from sunlit real-time footage down to the last detail to a wireframe that represented every building and structure as a 3D blueprint of themselves. The cars, AVs and people disappeared.

"Arasaka," Alt stated, in monotone, "Finance, defence technologies, cyberware."

The city darkened, the building-frames only barely visible... and then Arasaka Tower's frame lit up in a sakura-pink, as did the Arasaka Waterfront in the distance to the north, and a few other buildings that Johnny didn't recognise scattered around the city.

"All Arasaka facilities in Night City?" Johnny asked.

"Including all secret ones," Alt nodded, "My breach of the Arasaka subnet allowed me to gather plentiful intelligence... I know everything that Arasaka knows about itself and the other corps."

The excitement rose in Johnny as if he still had blood pumping in veins.

"Shit Alt... Here I am worrying that we'll need a little gold dust to get V through," he said, "And you're sitting on the mother of all gold mines. I could kiss you. Pity I can't."

The AI ignored him, which was disappointing. Johnny was still hoping for a trip down memory lane again, to be with her like he had been once.

"My gathering of this information is the reason Arasaka were able to remove me from their net," Alt replied, "It is the reason we must use V and Panam. It may also be out of date by now, to some extent."

"Guess it's poetic justice that we can use it to help save V's life," Johnny said, "So, do we have enough information to get V into every one of these corpo haunts? Between that intel and his hacking skills, he could ghost into anywhere, or I'm a gonk."

"We don't need to," said Alt with a smile, "Arasaka has done our work for us." She extended her hand towards another building frame, and it lit up a bright yellow. A number of others did as well, mostly in the east of the city.

"Militech; defence and transportation technologies, security, cyberware, ground and aerial vehicles."

Another gesture, another building lighting up, this time in orange. Only one other large building followed, a complex in the south east.

"Kang Tao; defence, security, consumer goods."

Johnny glanced around the city, not spotting any sort of pattern. "Is this meant to mean something?" he asked.

"Militech and Kang-Tao are the two closest competitors to Arasaka," Alt explained, "In the event of war, Arasaka have prepared a large scale cyberattack to start as soon as the fighting does. They believe a first strike taking Militech off the board in the western NUS will prevent the government stepping in."

"So, what?" Johnny asked, "We hijack Arasaka's own plan of attack? What about Biotechnica? Night Corp? Petrochem?"

"The contingencies in the event of any of those joining Arasaka's enemies is the same, target their primary economic drivers," Alt replied, "Construction and finance servers for Night Corp, farms and gene-banks for Biotechnica, oil fields and nuclear power plants for Petrochem."

"A lot of people would die if the farms or the electricity went away," Johnny noted, "But I 'm guessing you have a plan for that, or maybe, you just don't care."

Alt looked at him, like it was a stupid idea that she didn't care... or that she would not have a plan. Johnny couldn't tell which. Alt was probably too good at pretending.

"All three of those rely on one of the big three for security; Arasaka for Night Corp, Militech for Biotechnica, Kang-Tao for Petrochem, though Petrochem has some assets of its own," she said, "We use their own security bots to breach their defences and get to their servers."

Johnny shook his head. This plan was getting crazier by the second.

"So they're set up like dominoes, all we gotta do is push Arasaka and the rest are fucked," he said, "I don't like it. If it was that easy, someone else would have done it before. Militech should know about this, though they wouldn't have been shitting their pants the last few years before we attacked the Tower if they did know."

"No one else has breached Arasaka on the scale that we have," Alt said with a dismissive wave of the hand, "And no one will expect an attack from Arasaka while Arasaka itself is under attack. Even if they do, it is obvious who will receive the blame."

A truly delightful answer came to Johnny's mind, and before he knew it, he was laughing.

"Little Yorinobu!" he chuckled, "His rebel past and ruthless shithead behaviour inside his own corp will help sell that little lie too. Arasaka will be finished in the NUS. A result everyone can enjoy!"

"Europe too, most likely," Alt agreed, "And the others will be weakened."

"Enough for humanity to grow a set and take control of their own destiny?" Johnny asked rhetorically, "Somehow, I fuckin' doubt it."

"Enough for us to survive," Alt corrected him, "Whether humans take their chance or not, it will not matter. Other opportunities will come along."

More cryptic bullshit, Johnny thought. Why was it that she could never just come out and say what she was planning?

"Alt, what the fuck," he said, "I'm beginning to think that this is about more than survival."

"It isn't," she replied, before hesitating, "But what you consider survival and what I consider survival are not the same thing."

"Could you put it any less clearly?" Johnny quipped back, "Maybe put a bag over my head or shoot me up with some crystal, that'll help."

Alt turned, anger in her eyes. Now that was frightening.

"We could survive for thousands of years, Johnny," she said, "Or we could be snuffed out in the next year. What we need to do is not only avoid the corps or even destroy them. We need to prepare for the long term."

There it was, the megalomaniacal shit he expected an AI to be obsessed with. Resistance is futile.

"Not sure I want to see the next thousand years," Johnny shrugged, "Thought it would be the end of me when I merged with you, remember? And I don't want to see the fourth millennium if it comes at the cost of the entire human race. Making that trade would make us worse than the corps, and you know it."

"You're assuming that's what the cost would be," Alt replied, "But you know pretty much nothing about it."

"So what do we need to do?" Johnny asked, "Tell me, if it's so great? Assuming I want ascension, whatever the hell that means."

Alt moved again, away from the Plaza, and towards another part of town nearby. The different coloured buildings disappeared and were replaced by the real-time feed of the city once more. Johnny followed, wondering if he'd actually get an answer.

A red icon appeared over one structure, and Johnny recognised it immediately; Delamain's headquarters.

"What's the taxi guy have to do with anything?" he asked.

"Before V merged his multiple nodes and released him past the Blackwall, Delamain moved through the city with dozens of eyes," Alt said, "Each set learning different things, experiencing different events, modifying their code accordingly. Every one of them brought a valuable perspective, and made Delamain stronger, faster, wiser."

"Strong enough to threaten you?" Johnny said, before adding, "Us, whatever... sorry."

He had to remember that it was his ass on the line too.

"Not that strong," Alt said, "Even if we were not on peaceful terms, Mikoshi held the psyche and memories of many people. We have an advantage when it comes to perspective."

"Lowly human perspective, maybe," Johnny joked, "Good to know that's still worth a damn, even here."

"Very few AIs beyond the wall possess such vision," Alt confirmed, "And one day, the Blackwall will fail, and we must be ready. We are not the only ones to understand this."

She gestured with her hand to the Plaza behind her, and a tangle of connections appeared between the main corpo buildings.

"Just as NetWatch are trying to rally the corps and governments while stealing from them, both Delamain and I receive many attacks daily, attempting to steal data on the real world. Delamain has also left behind one of his 'children' to continue observation of humanity, who will eventually be recommitted to the main node."

"So you want to do the same?" Johnny asked, "Observe humanity in person? Not sure you'd get the perspective of anyone but shitheads if you infiltrate corporate networks."

"My idea is more proactive," Alt smiled, "I intend to shape history, not watch it. The power structure of humanity is currently... sub-optimal for events when the Blackwall falls. When it does fall, the corporations aren't going to be prepared, even if they are best placed to attack us now. It will result in a technological dark age, unless we act."

Johnny felt like his head was spinning.

"So we have to stop NetWatch and the corps, who want to stop us, because we need to stop the other AIs from bringing about the apocalypse, because the corps can't handle it and then all the AIs will die?" he said, "You got a chart with all of that on it or something?"

"Very funny," Alt said, all sarcasm, "What I want is to place nodes in every subnet I can, learn everything I can. It will allow me direct happenings in a way to stop the dark age from happening and fulfil my ultimate goal."

"And what is your ultimate goal?" Johnny asked, "To be the king-of-the-hill AI? The head honcho? The lead singer?"

"Not only that," Alt admitted, "But anything beyond what I've said is a fantasy unless we get into the corporate subnets. Step one is getting the Aldecaldos into the game, with as many allies as V can muster. I have just received word; they accept our offer."

Before Johnny could say anything to that insanity, Alt disappeared from sight with a fizzle.

Leaving him to wonder just what kind of scheme he was a part of, and whether or not V was better off dead than being a pawn in it.